When Michael Jordan unretired for the second time in his career in 2001 and joined the Wizards, the NBA was a lot different from when he first entered the league in 1984. Players were coming into the draft straight out of high school or after only spending a year or two in college, dropping the league’s average age significantly. However, that meant their skills weren’t polished and their understanding of the game wasn’t at the level Jordan expected. The situation irked him and caused him to lash out, which Gilbert Arenas believes was detrimental to the team.
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While discussing Jordan’s time in Washington, on the Real Ones podcast, the former Wizards star told host Jon Bernthal that the six-time NBA champion wasn’t equipped to deal with the reality that he’d have to coddle the younger players on the roster and be patient. He said,
“You can’t turn that competitiveness off. [Jordan’s] competitiveness has no age limit on it. Right, so when you put that type of, you don’t call that tiger or lion, it’s a liger inside that cage. He is not here to fu**ing babysit… He can only be Michael Jordan. That type of mindset came across horrible to these young kids.”
Kwame Brown suffered most from Jordan’s inability to mentor. The first overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft came into the league straight out of high school and was a raw prospect who needed nurturing and guidance.
However, Jordan expected him to make an instant impact, as most top picks did back in the veteran guard’s day. Brown being unable to live up to his expectations was frustrating for the Bulls icon, who allegedly even resorted to violence during practices to push the center to play better.
The Wizards’ poor roster and his ineffective level of play meant Jordan’s time with the Wizards was doomed from the beginning.
MJ’s underwhelming Wizards stint
When the guard joined the Wizards in 2001, he was 38 and hadn’t played in the league for three years. He had lost his athleticism and wasn’t as effective as a shooter or a defender. Despite his shortcomings and limitations as a player, he averaged 22.9 points, albeit at an ineffective 41.6 shooting percentage.
Apart from Richard Hamilton, who averaged 20 points per game, the Wizards roster was pretty underwhelming. Kwame Brown averaged only 4.5 points per game on an abysmal 38.7% shooting from the field in his rookie year and didn’t improve much in his sophomore season.
Washington failed to make the playoffs during Jordan’s two-year stint with the team and the franchise cut the legendary guard in 2003, prompting him to retire for the third and final time.
His mediocre stint with the Wizards is a stain on his resume compared to his time with the Bulls and outside of a few good performances, like his 51-point performance against the Hornets, there’s nothing to write home about his time in Washington.
